UAA still needs more Alaska Native representation

Change takes time. Especially when that change requires upheaval of long-standing practices. 

As Elizabeth Peratrovich Day is being recognized by email and not campus-wide, the need for change is still prevalent, and UAA still needs more Alaska Native representation.

The Northern Light spoke with Alaska Native Studies Professor Zachary Milliman and Alaska Native Studies Department Chair Dr. Maria Williams on what progress has been made and what still needs to be done.

The Northern Light published an article titled “UAA needs more Alaska Native representation” in October 2024, but Milliman said he has not noticed any substantial change since it came out.

However, he said that Alaska Native programs — a group of staff and faculty independent of UAA’s administration — have continued to put on events and address the needs of the community of Alaska Native students and staff at UAA.

Williams said, “The article helped because students read it, and it keeps Alaska Native Studies and Alaska Native programs on people’s radar.” However, she also noted there hasn’t been major change from an administration standpoint. 

Milliman said there has long been an effort to rename the Anchorage campus to Chanshtnu — the place name of the land given by the Dene people. 

“The name Chanshtnu would honor the lands of the Dena’ina and the fish camps that were violently dismantled to afford the expansion of Anchorage,” said Milliman. 

Despite UAF’s campus being renamed to Troth Yeddha in 2013, there is no current timeline for the possible renaming of UAA’s campus, according to Milliman.

An institutional change that has been incredibly successful, according to Williams, is the creation of the Native-themed general education requirement — or GER. 

Williams said that while this change is the reason most students initially enroll in Alaska Native Studies classes, “they end up loving the class, and it ends up being one of their favorite classes.” 

Both Milliman and Dr. Williams pointed to this being a major success for the program. According to them, the GER has led to not only an increased volume of students taking an initial Native Studies class, but has seen many students take multiple classes within the program. 

Currently, there is only an Associate of Arts and minor in Alaska Native Studies offered at UAA. Although there is no major in Alaska Native Studies at this time, the department is currently in the process of creating one. 

Williams said Alaska Native Studies was the recipient of a Mellon Foundation grant totaling $400,000 over the next three years. The primary purpose of this grant is to develop a Bachelor of Arts in Alaska Native Studies, with the goal of the department being to also create a Master of Arts in Alaska Native Studies that will have shared credits with the bachelor’s program.

This process will likely take a couple years to complete, but the grant from the Mellon Foundation is a major step in the right direction for Alaska Native Studies expanding its offerings on campus, according to Williams. 

Williams also highlighted the efforts of the College of Arts and Sciences’ fundraiser Craig Miller who secured the Alaska Native Studies program two $2000 scholarships for next year.

With only emails coming out from UAA’s administration regarding Elizabeth Peratrovich Day on Feb. 16, Milliman said the performative recognition doesn’t diminish the work she did in her lifetime. 

“Recognition limited to an email or a press release does not diminish the importance of figures like Peratrovich, but rather exposes those that take that to be sufficient,” he said.

Elizabeth Peratrovich passed the first civil rights legislation in the United States — twenty years prior to the Civil Rights Act. 

Milliman also stressed that, without the work of the Alaska Native Studies department and Alaska Native programs to put on events honoring people like Elizabeth Peratrovich, there would likely be no events put on by other organizations or UAA’s administration.

While the presence of clubs on campus has diminished in the wake of the pandemic, Williams said there are still groups including the Traditional Games Club and the Alaska Native Student Council that are active. She also highlighted the Elizabeth Peratrovich Day Celebration taking place on Feb. 17 at 4:30 p.m. in Social Sciences Building Room 119.

Williams said that she is hopeful that the strides that Alaska Native Studies and Alaska Native programs have made to further their presence on campus will continue to go forward, and that the University will continue to allow the programs to grow.

Milliman said UAA’s administration needs to follow through on the promises laid out in the Alaska Native Success Initiative, but that faculty and students are doing their part to further grow the Alaska Native presence at UAA.

Change is hard. Faculty and students continue to undertake herculean efforts to create space and representation at UAA. And although UAA’s administration has taken some steps in the right direction, UAA still needs more Alaska Native representation, and it needs to come from the top.